La mina de Cobres (puna de Salta, Argentina) y la producción de metales en baja escala durante los periodos prehispánico y colonial

Abstract

In 1908, after a short visit to the region, Eric Boman published the first detailed information about pre-Hispanic and Colonial Era mining and metallurgy in Cobres. Today, 110 years after the Swedish researcher's visit, recent studies allow for a better understanding of the different productive and technological dynamics that developed over the long run in this locality in the Salta highlands, based on the exploitation of the metalliferous minerals. Here, drawing on new archaeological data, we examine pre-Hispanic metal production in Cobres and analyze the discontinuities and transformations that occurred during the subsequent Colonial Period. Beyond certain particularities, the case of Cobres highlights the relevance of small Andean mining sites that were often left aside or overshadowed historically and in regional historiography, by the major productive and political centers.

Keywords

• mining
• metallurgy
• Pre-Hispanic Period
• wind-furnaces
• South-Andean highland